


Home is Where the Broken Heart Is

by narnianvalkyrieofberk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hunk cusses, divorce mention, semi-vent plot, vaguely implied genderfluid!Hunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 23:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8553493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narnianvalkyrieofberk/pseuds/narnianvalkyrieofberk
Summary: The Galra have been defeated and earth is safe. Now the universe's defenders return to their home planet. But one of the paladins won't be getting as warm a welcome as the others.





	

Hunk took a deep breath and steeled himself. He pretended he was okay. He pretended that last night hadn’t been a blur of no less than five major panic episodes floating in an ebbing sea of rising and falling levels of distraught. He and the other paladins and the Alteans made their way out of the castle and out to the adoring crowd help back on either side by police tape and garrison soldiers. The same soldiers who used to think he, and Lance, and Pidge were just some screw up kids now looked at them with pride and adoration. And Hunk knew what a lot of them were probably thinking. “Your parents must be so proud!” Sure. They were probably about as proud of this as they had been of his 3.5 grade point average his first year at the garrison taking college-level classes, not that that was saying much…

Hunk watched somewhat numbly as Allura and Coran were greeted by Iverson. Then came the loud celebratory noises as everyone’s families rushed to greet their loved ones. Mrs. Holt had a teary reunion with her husband and children. Shiro had parents to welcome him, and they welcomed Keith as well. It would have been faster to point out who wasn’t there for Lance than who was. His whole extended family seemed to be there, even a few faces Hunk didn’t recognize from Lance’s constant babble about his family and display of the thousands of pictures on his phone. 

“Hosea!” Hunk winced a little as he heard his mother’s sharp voice over the crowd, but he quickly followed the voice without question. He was snatched into two big hugs at once, but he felt more tension than comfort, like both parents were trying to take more of the hug for themselves. As soon as the hug was released, Hunk braced himself, and he definitely needed it.

“Hosea, what in the world were you thinking!?”

“Son, how could you just disappear like that without asking us!?”

“I didn’t really have a choi—“

Hunk wasn’t allowed to finish his thought. “Of course you had a choice!”

“You could have told them you didn’t want to stay!”

“You should have come back.”

Hunk tried again to jump to his own defense. “If I had, they wouldn’t have been able to form Voltron and the univer—“

“Just shut up about that stupid robot. We’ll talk about it later. First, you need to decide who you want to go home with.” Hunk’s heart dropped. He knew in his heart of hearts there was little to no chance they’d still be together when he got back. But he had hoped….

“I’ll let you two decide…” he mumbled.

“No, Hunk, you’re an adult. It’s your choice. Whoever you don’t pick will feel a little hurt no matter what, but it’s okay. It’s your choice.”

“FUCK YOU!!!” Even Hunk was startled by his emotions finally boiling over. His parents both looked taken aback and about ready to smack some sense into their son despite never having laid a hand on him before. Even the others had heard Hunk’s cry over the din of families reuniting, and now everyone was staring. But Hunk’s emotions had gotten out, and now he couldn’t put them back or stop the rest from flowing out. “Fuck you both! You promised you’d never put me in the middle of your damn relationship! And why the fuck are you blaming me for something I had no control over!? I NEVE R ASKED TO BE A PALADIN! Do you even care that I was ready to die on the battle field!? I WAS READY TO FUCKING DIE!!!”

“Hosea—“ his mother sounded very reproachful, possibly due to her history with suicide attempts, but Hunk didn’t care.

“No, fuck you both!!” he screamed one last time before running away faster than he knew his legs could carry him. He vaguely recognized the sounds of his parents angrily screaming his birth name after him and of others calling both his nickname and his secondary name. But he didn’t stop. Hunk never stopped until he was far away. He was out in the middle of the desert where the chances of anybody finding him were slim to none. 

Hunk stumbled and fell to his knees, only managing to bring himself to a sitting position afterwards. His mind was disoriented, full of contradictory screams and a twisted pain going from the pit of his stomach, to his racing heart, to his brain spilling out only vague memories he didn’t want to deal with but knew couldn’t be ignored. So Hunk just sat there and cried. Hunk hadn’t cried this hard in years, so hard that he literally started coughing and gasping for breath. Hard enough that his whole body shook. And hard enough that he’d give anything just to make the pain stop. 

He barely even noticed as a soft hand was placed on his forehead. He vaguely heard his name murmured, or maybe it was being yelled but he was dissociating so badly that it sounded vague and distant. The fleshy hand was quickly replaced with a cold metal one. And suddenly there was a canteen being pushed against Hunk’s lips and he took a drink. The water made him feel a little less dehydrated after all that crying. Hunk was hardly aware as somebody tugged his warm vest off and then let cold water trickle down his back between his skin and his shirt. He didn’t resist as six pairs of gentle arms hoisted him to his feet and slowly helped him onto something that was probably the back of a truck. But Hunk didn’t have time to figure out what it was before blacking out. 

Hours later, or maybe it was days, or even only minutes, Hunk’s eyes slowly slid open. He was lying on a cot in an air conditioned room. As soon as he stirred, he heard a flurry of concerned voices, many of which were only vaguely familiar because of only having heard them over the phone before. Hunk’s vision took about another minute to come too, but finally his eyes righted themselves and he could scan the crowd barely being kept at bay by Lance and Keith mumbling that Hunk needed his space.   
“W-what happened?” Hunk barely managed to murmur.

Allura looked for a moment like she might scold him. She hugged Hunk, and he tensed up. Allura quickly let go, and Hunk braced himself for the scolding of a lifetime. But nothing in Hunk’s lifetime prepared him for what Allura said next.

“Are you okay?” 

Hunk blinked in confusion. “I…… I’m sorry……” he barely managed to mumble out the words through parched lips. Pidge handed him a gallon bottle of water, and Hunk gladly started in on it. 

Allura calmly spoke to Hunk while he drank. “Hunk, you haven’t done anything that requires apologizing for. You’ve obviously been through a lot. We want to do what we can to help you, okay? We all just want you to be safe and to know that you are loved.”

Hunk slowly lowered the bottle. His eyes scanned the crowd that was apparently all here for him. All his space family was there. And so were their families. Mr. and Mrs. Holt and Matt were sitting at one end of the room giving him gentle, reassuring smiles. The Shirogane-Kogane family was at the other end of the room with similar, albeit slightly more reserved expressions. And the McClain family, not just Lance’s parents and siblings, the entire extended McClain family was there too. And Lance and Keith currently had their hands full of children who had to be held back because they had not yet learned the concept of people needing their space when they’re upset.   
Hunk’s eyes started blurring with tears again. He hugged everyone he could reach, which at the moment meant the two Alteans. But soon, now that hugs were on the table, a group hug slowly enveloped Hunk. And Hunk nestled into this precious safe bubble of love and warmth. He very well may have just cut ties with his parents. But Hunk knew… He knew that he would never be without family.


End file.
